Charleston RiverDogs
Encyclopedia : C : CH : CHA : Charleston RiverDogs
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History
Baseball can be traced in Charleston back to 1886, when the Charleston Seagulls took the field in front of only 32 people at an old high school baseball field. In 1897 a brand new facility was built for the Seagulls named College Park. In 1907 the Sea Gulls won the South Atlantic League Championship. In 1947 the new Charleston Rebels set an attendance record of 184,851, which stood until 1997. The Rebels became the second team to bring home the South Atlantic League Pennant.The RiverDogs were originally formed in 1980 under the name of the Charleston Royals. They won the South Atlantic League's Southern Division championship in their first full season, and again in 1984. In 1988, the renamed Charleston Rainbows won the divisional championship for a third time. However, after this success, the team suffered five consecutive losing seasons before changing their name to the RiverDogs in 1994.
1997 saw the RiverDogs leave their 111 year old College Park stadium and move into the brand new 5,900 person capacity Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park. The team also began its eight year affiliation with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in [[1997. The "Joe" as it's nicknamed quickly saw a rise in total attendance setting a record of 100,000 fan increase over just 1 year! The Riverdogs became a CLass A affiliate with the Yankees on September 15, 2004. At the end of the 2005 season Charlseston made an attempt to attract Class AA team by expanding their stadium by 1,000 seats. Charleston's single game attendance record is 8,257 which was set on July 3rd, 2006. So far this season the team has averaged 4,043 a game.
As an interesting side note, the club's owner is none other than famous actor Bill Murray. Through solid ownership, the Riverdogs are home to what is consistently voted the best ballpark in the Southereastern conference, and also subsidizes ticket and refreshment sales, keeping prices low and contributing most of the proceeds generated from concessions to local schools and charities.
Notable players
A number of ex-RiverDogs have gone on to make a name for themselves in Major League Baseball, including: Rocco Baldelli, Sandy Alomar, Jr., Roberto Alomar, Carlos Baerga, Seth McClung, Fernando Tatis, Aubrey Huff, and David Cone.External link
| South Atlantic League | ||
| Northern Division | Southern Division | |
|---|---|---|
| Delmarva Shorebirds | Hagerstown Suns | Hickory Crawdads | Kannapolis Intimidators | Lake County Captains | Lakewood BlueClaws | Lexington Legends | West Virginia Power | Asheville Tourists | Augusta GreenJackets |Charleston RiverDogs | Columbus Catfish | Greensboro Grasshoppers | Greenville Drive | Rome Braves | Savannah Sand Gnats | |
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